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Dr. Phil might tell you that no one wins an argument, but spare us the hugs and psychology. IBM no longer ships (R.I.P. 2005) or supports (R.I.P. 2006) OS/2, which is now sold under the name eComStation by Serenity Systems. Try getting that factory installed on a Dell laptop.
The history on Windows is a bit richer (in many ways) and proves the good doctor wrong.
Of course, the irony is that IBM and Microsoft teamed up in 1985 to develop OS/2. Two years later they had a product. Three years after that, Microsoft had Windows 3.0 shipping on many PCs and was on its way toward NT while OS/2 was gathering dust on computer super store shelves as a standalone product that lacked a full complement of device drivers. The IBM/Microsoft relationship continued to sour and by the time the last version of OS/2 – the Warp 4 version – shipped in 1996, IBM was on its own.
Today, OS/2, with the dubious distinction of being the first OS to have a fan club, can be found in small pockets of the computer landscape such as bank automated teller machines and the French national railway’s ticket machines.
Windows? We won’t bother rebooting that story here.
Comments (10)
windows vs. os2By Anonymous on December 11, 2007, 1:42 pmYes, Microsoft did a great job developing OS/2. but sorry, it is dead.
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Very satisfied with my eCsBy Anonymous on December 2, 2007, 3:56 pmVery satisfied with my eCs and OS/2 machines. Use mostly Firefox, PMMail, Star Off., a bunch of the Ported stuff, Java apps. I have found that it is extremely...
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Still using OS/2 at home myself. :-)By rcsteiner on November 20, 2007, 2:16 pmI started in 1992 when I began dual-booting OS/2 2.0 with Windows 3.1, and when OS/2 2.1 came out I was gone to the OS/2 side. The way it ran DOS programs (in...
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Windows vs. OS/2By Mike Ridlon on November 7, 2007, 12:00 pmI used OS/2 from version 1.0 through 4.0, both personally and corporately. After the company was bought by a foreign entity they made us dump OS/2 and go to Windows....
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Microsoft payed IBM many 100By Anonymous on November 2, 2007, 1:52 pmMicrosoft payed IBM many 100 of millions dollars after a court ruling a few years ago. Among the reasons was Microsoft using unethical/illegal practice to stop...
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